Blockbuster fires a shot across the bow!
I was watching the Rose Bowl, when an apparently new (at least to me) ad played. It was Blockbuster and was naming Netflix by name in the commercial. Blockbuster said it'sTotal Access service is really no different than Netflix. But they said if you want a movie now, you have to wait with Netflix but if you're with Blockbuster you can go to the store and trade movies and so on.
A couple reasons I found this interesting.
1. Blockbuster basically admits right at the first that their DVD mailing service is no better (or worse than Netflix). Seems a little risky to say that. By starting off with that, it pretty much precludes anybody who uses Netflix. "If it's no better why should I switch?" The answer: You shouldn't.
2. Blockbuster almost seems to be begging people to go the store. Which i can understand. Those brick and mortar stores have fixed costs that need to be recouped. Netflix doesn't have that problem. Of course Netflix has distribution centers and warehouses...but so does Blockbuster. So it's obvious Blockbuster wants to drive more traffic. I've noticed that the stores aren't as crowded as they were when they eliminated late fees at first (which was their old bread and butter. Reed Hastings started Netflix because of a ridiculous late fee he received for Apollo 13 at Blockbuster).
I just found this interesting because I don't recall Blockbuster mentioning Netflix by name in an ad before. And it must be new since it is the New Year and I think many companies like to start new ad campaigns now (especially if they don't have coin for the Super Bowl.) But it's about time Blockbuster went head-on. Here's an article from about a year ago that explains several of the woes that have hurt Blockbuster in the past few years.
Full disclosure: I bought Netflix stock around $10 several years ago and sold in less than a year for around $50 or so dollars a share. So I'll always have a soft spot for them. And Blockbuster has pissed me off numerous times (not having movies that they should have had, charging exorbitant prices for DVDs for purchase, raising their video game rental price to an absurd level, putting the wrong movie or game in the wrong container on me) so I can't wait for them to go the way of the dinosaurs. As the executive in the linked article said...
"Blockbuster will certainly not survive and it will not be missed."
Monday, January 1, 2007
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